Mario Kart Arcade GP DX

Mario Kart Arcade GP DX
Developer	Namco Bandai
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Arcade
Release Date	JP July 25, 2013 US 2014 EU 2017
Genre	Racing

Mario Kart Arcade GP DX is an arcade racing game spun off from the Mario Kart games. It is the third game of the Mario Kart Arcade GP subseries, following the original and Mario Kart Arcade GP 2'.

Gameplay

This installment heavily expands upon the gameplay of the series. The Time Trial mode was omitted, but the Grand Prix and Versus Mode return, with several different options for the latter one. The two new Versus Mode options are for linked arcade cabinets, as they involve two players teaming up together. One mode is two-player co-op, while the other is a team battle, although the latter was removed from the game in a 2016 update. The cooperative modes inciude a special power-up that temporarily transforms a kart into a Fusion Kart that is driven by one player, while the other player mans a turret that fires Green Shells for a limited amount of time. The Japanese version also included an additional single-player mode called National Battle, where the player raced against others in race tracks around the region and earned experience points that could be put towards raising a player's rank and obtaining new frames for the player's avatar.

DX incorporates some elements from other Mario Kart games, such as the gliders and underwater segments from Mario Kart 7. The game has 14 different courses, 10 of which are modified from courses from the previous games. This game also notably has over 100 items available, the highest amount in any Mario Kart game. At the beginning of each race, players could select three items (a forward item, backward item and special item) to use during a race through a roulette. In addition, there are 29 karts to choose from, with four being unlockable and two being downloadable.

Players could utilized Bananapassport Cards to save their progress. The game also featured voiced color commentary and occasional updates that added more to the game.

Playable Characters

This game features a cast of 18 characters, three of which were unlockable and five of which became available later as downloads. There was also one character who was only unlockable through a limited event. Also, many of the characters had palette swaps that could access special items. This game added a new third-party character in the form of Don-chan from the Taiko no Tatsujin series.

• Mario (Fire Mario and Tanooki Mario as downloadable and unlockable palette swaps, respectively)
• Luigi (Ice Luigi as downloadable palette swap)
• Peach
• Toad (Blue Toad as downloadable palette swap)
• Yoshi (Red and Black Yoshi as downloadable palette swaps)
• Bowser (Dry Bowser as a downloadable palette swap)
• Donkey Kong
• Pac-Man
• Don-chan (Strawberry Don-chan and Hero Don-chan as downloadable palette swaps)
• Bowser Jr. (unlockable)
• Wario (unlockable)
• Waluigi (unlockable)
• King Boo (unlockable through limited event)
• Daisy (downloadable)
• Rosalina (downloadable)
• Baby Mario (downloadable)
• Baby Peach (downloadable)
• Metal Mario (downloadable, with Gold Mario as a palette swap)
• Lakitu (downloadable)

Legacy

Sequels

The next game would be a VR installment of the game known simply as Mario Kart Arcade GP VR. It was released in 2017.